5.1. SR 07-02-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

SecuritylnfoWatch.com Article- Missing Ethics in Door-to-Door Alarm Sales? Page 2 of2 dealership they're from and let the customers know there are changes that have to be made and why. They should give them the technicians name and specify a time they would be out there to service the equipment. You have to be very clear about who you are and why you are coming out. "It's best to get your customers informed in every way you can, and notices in a letter or bill is a good way to do that. The other way we do that Is through an automated voicemail system that can call our customers and advise them of the situation. Email will also work well If you've collected your customers' email addresses. " An Industry Ethics Problem But even with proactive efforts from the "stand-up" companies In the industry, the alarm industry may not be immune to ethical problems. "It's an entrepreneurial environment, where if you want to start an alarm company tomorrow, you can do it, and how you operate that company would be based on your personal ethics," says Simon. "The challenge there is the demarcation between the different companies. You have some companies with firmly established standards, but not everybody adopts those kinds of high standards. So how do you reach those high standards? "It can be education. It can be peer pressure. It can be pressure from association leadership and from national leadership, and ultimately it would be good to create some sort of enforcement mechanism. Overall, for the alarm industry, enforcement of any type of regulation or standard seems to be very difficult." Nonetheless, APX's Inbar maintains that problems of ethics and standards don't affect his company. He says APX is one of few companies that makes it clear to customers what is being done, and actually follows up with their customers in two surveys, before and after the actual equipment Install to make sure everything is upfront. But asked how it is that a company that has such seemingly standard ethics has become the black sheep of the alarm industry according to both their competitors and according to so many local community news outlets, Inbar said it was only because the company was big and steadily growing. "We're a lot larger than a lot of them," said APX's Inbar, "and as a result, we're on the radar." Related Links . Brinks Issues Warning To Customers About Shady Competitors Printable version may be for personal use only. Content may not be duplicated, re-used or otherwise replicated without expressed, written consent from $ec!!litY:I:nfc>W"JCI1,(c>m and/or the original author/source. Visit Se(I,JrltYI"fc>W"tch.cc>m - The Complete Information Resource for the Security Industry. . Click Here to Print This Page http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/printer.j Sp ?id=8931 6/13/2007